Legendary Manchester United Football Club manager Sir Alex Ferguson visited the University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre’s pioneering apprenticeship training centre which will provide the next generation of world leading engineers.

Sir Alex, who has guided Manchester United to become the world's largest club and won countless domestic and international honours, met apprentices already receiving training at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing and saw the site of the new multi-million pound AMRC Training Centre.

The centre aims to create knowledge and manufacturing breakthroughs by equipping highly skilled workers who will go on to regenerate the region’s and the UK’s manufacturing industry.

Ferguson, an apprentice tool maker in Glasgow before turning professional as a footballer, spoke to more than 200 staff and apprentices about his experiences, before signing items which will be buried in a time capsule.

"What we need is businesses to have confidence in young people”, said Sir Alex. "Manchester United is the best example of this. We believe in young people and it's amazing how they can surprise you.

"In 26 years our young players through our academy have made £115 million in sales, that's an investment. My apprenticeship was a fantastic part of my life. I always knew I had something specialist to go back to if football didn't go well.

"Apprenticeships give you a work force, a regeneration of people coming through. We need opportunities for apprenticeships to give young people chances to get success. I'm delighted to be here and I applaud that."

The AMRC Training Centre, which is due to be completed in Autumn 2013, is part-funded by the Regional Growth Fund (£12.5 million) and the European Regional Development Fund (£5 million) and will provide up to 250 students, aged from 16 upwards, the chance to be taken on as paid apprenticeships with opportunities to progress on to postgraduate courses every year.

The centre will be based in a new 5,500 sq m building located on the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Catcliffe. The AMRC Training Centre is a major new venture for the University and will build on the world renowned technical expertise housed in the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing and Nuclear AMRC.

It will provide tailored courses of practical and academic skills, from apprenticeship through to doctorate and MBA level, plus continuing professional development. The centre will primarily serve businesses with operations in the region – including Rolls-Royce, which is building up to three new factories on the Park.

Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Professor Keith Ridgway, said: “It’s fantastic that Sir Alex could come and see the world leading work that’s taking place here at the Advanced Manufacturing Park. He is a big supporter of apprenticeships and ensuring these vital skills stay within the UK.”

Director of the AMRC Training Centre Alison Bettac added: “Manchester United has a long standing tradition of guiding youngsters through their youth ranks into the first team, and on to international honours, in the same way we hope to provide young people in the South Yorkshire region with the skills to compete at the highest level. The AMRC Training Centre will provide a step change in advanced manufacture and secure the future of the sector.”

Additional information

With nearly 25,000 of the brightest students from 125 countries coming to learn alongside 1,181 of the world’s best academics, it is clear why the University of Sheffield is one of the UK’s leading universities. Staff and students at Sheffield are committed to helping discover and understand the causes of things - and propose solutions that have the power to transform the world we live in.

A member of the Russell Group, the University of Sheffield has a reputation for world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. The University of Sheffield has been named University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards 2011 for its exceptional performance in research, teaching, access and business performance. In addition, the University has won four Queen’s Anniversary Prizes (1998, 2000, 2002, 2007), recognising the outstanding contribution by universities and colleges to the United Kingdom’s intellectual, economic, cultural and social life.

One of the markers of a leading university is the quality of its alumni and Sheffield boasts five Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students. Its alumni have gone on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.

Research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, Boots, AstraZeneca, GSK, ICI, Slazenger, and many more household names, as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.

The University has well-established partnerships with a number of universities and major corporations, both in the UK and abroad. Its partnership with Leeds and York Universities in the White Rose Consortium has a combined research power greater than that of either Oxford or Cambridge.